Tired

I'm too tired to go to bed. It's got to be a form of insanity. My head hurts, my eyes sting, and there's a nice soft bed waiting for me, but here I sit on a mildly comfortable folding chair hunched over my laptop. I can't even boast productivity. Here's the deal, it was Wal-mart day today and there was a total of eight kids in and out of my house today, I'm dog sitting and Brennan's mad at me because the dog didn't get enough water today. I told Abby to give the dog some fresh water which she did, but then put his bowl up so Benny wouldn't get into it and forgot to put it back down. I feel bad, no wonder I caught him lapping up water from the toilet.

Earlier the dog was looking out the window and getting whiny and restless. Anna told me he needed to go out. I had just taken him out while she was at swimming lessons so I told her with confidence that he didn't need to go out that he was just restless. She told me that I didn't know what I was talking about, and that she does because she's read books about dogs. I argued with her about how I did know and that my Dad was stronger than hers etc., and then I remembered I wasn't eight.

Benjamin and Mac, the dog, worked out a neat and mutually beneficial system. Whenever Benny is downstairs Mac graciously allows Ben to help himself to his food (which Ben seems to really enjoy) and whenever Benny is eating, Mac is more than welcome to stand at the high chair and partake of whatever food Ben generously places in Mac's open mouth. The golden rule has never worked so well.

At Wal-mart I pushed the cart while Benjamin threw whatever I put in out while Nate walked behind us collecting Benny's rejects and passed them back to me. I then tried to place the retrieved items back in the cart out of Ben's reach without smashing the bread while trying to remember what it was I needed to buy. Half-way through this very relaxing stroll through the grocery store we added a little chant just to kick it up a notch. The chant consisted of Nate saying "Mom, I need to go potty, now." over and over. Which was my cue to say, "Okay, Nate, hold on, grab that cool-whip behind you, I'll get you to the bathroom as soon as I can." I forgot a few things. Oh good, another trip to the grocery store.

I came home from Wal-mart and spent a long time preparing the FHE lesson which my parents, sister, brother-in-law and nephew were invited to. My lesson didn't exactly wow the kids and so they came up with plenty to say and do to stay busy throughout the duration of my lesson. Industrious little people.

Before we know it it's 9:00, our guests have gone home (fleeing for peace and sanity) and now the real fun begins, bedtime. Anna has to shower because she can't sleep unless she knows she's clean. Adding a shower to the bedtime routine is fun because it's like adding 10 miles to a marathon for a snail. Abby can't go downstairs (which is where her bedroom happens to be) until Anna does. Nate decides he's scared and can't go to sleep. Just when we think we've finally got them all in bed, Anna and Abby pop in for a visit upstairs because Anna has to go to the bathroom and the one downstairs isn't on the approved bathroom list and Abby can't be downstairs by herself.

I'm tired.